Marijuana Should Be Legalized

Jack Cloud
3/18/2009
Period 9
 Recently in the news, Michael Phelps, Olympic swimming hero, was caught

smoking pot. It cost him millions in endorsement money and hurt his reputation. This

news piece brought back the debate about whether or not marijuana (also known as

cannabis) should be legalized by the United States. Marijuana should be legalized in the

U.S. Marijuana has been proven not to be strongly addictive and not as dangerous as

many believe. Legalizing marijuana would help get rid of gangs and put drug trafficking

cartels out of business. Economically, the United States would save a lot of money by

legalizing marijuana and there are also many medical benefits of the drug.

Knowing some history about marijuana laws is important in understanding why it

should be legalized. During the 1930’s, there was a lot of negative propaganda about

marijuana and its use. “Reefer Madness” was a popular film from 1937 that showed the

"violent narcotic's ... soul destroying effects on unwary teens” (Reefer Madness).

Because of all the negative press on marijuana, the Marijuana Tax Act was passed by

congress in 1938. The Marijuana Tax Act is a federal law, so even if a state decides to

de-criminalize the use of cannabis, a person can still be arrested by the federal

government (Growing Marijuana Seeds). This has led to confusion, many law-suits, and

reluctance by the medical industry to study marijuana. If federal marijuana laws were

changed, then there could be more research and fewer lawsuits, which would benefit all

citizens.

There are many people apposed to legalizing marijuana for some of the following

reasons. Nora Volkow, the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuses says “The

use of marijuana can produce adverse physical, mental, emotional, and behavior changes.

…can impair short-term memory, verbal skills, and judgment…can harm the lungs…the
increasing use of marijuana by very young teens may have a profoundly negative effect

upon their development” (National Institute on Drug Abuse). However, overall research

done on marijuana’s health effects is inconclusive and usually, if there are negative

effects, they are considered mild. Also, the same regulations that are on tobacco and

alcohol could prohibit minors from using marijuana. Many people object to marijuana

because they say that it is addicting. However, it is only mildly addicting. Two reports,

one from the Addiction Research Center and another from the University of California

compared addictiveness of heroin, cocaine, nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and marijuana.

Both reports found nicotine to be the most addictive and marijuana to be the least

addictive of the drugs studied (Marijuana). One of the main criticisms of legalizing

marijuana is that it is a “gateway” to other more intense drugs. A study in 2002 showed

that many students (77%) had tried marijuana but 74% had not used it in the past year

and that it did not lead to the use of more dangerous drugs (Marijuana). Legalizing

marijuana is a complicated issue that many people are opposed to, but those reasons do

not out weigh the many reasons it should be legal.

By legalizing marijuana, the United States would lesson the impact of illegal drug

trafficking and gangs. One raid led by U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and Mexican

officials on a marijuana cultivation processing complex found 9,000 tons of marijuana

with U.S. street value estimated at $4 billion (SIRS Research). That money funds a lot of

gang activity and continues to keep the drug cartels in business. Legalizing marijuana

would take some of the competition out among gangs and drug dealers, making the

streets safer. Proquest’s article “Marijuana Legalization Timeline” states that the U.S.

Government Accountability Office reports that Mexican drug cartels earned up to $23
billion from drug sales in 2008 and that the cartels run street distribution gangs in almost

every region in the country. Obviously, it is in the illegal drug seller’s interest to sell

more marijuana, so if it were legal, there might be fewer users encouraged by gangs and

pushers. Legalizing marijuana would weaken street gangs and cartels, would lesson crime

and hopefully minimize the amount available on the street for underage users.

Another benefit from legalizing cannabis would be the economic rewards from

decimalization. There is a huge cost in the U.S. to prosecuting and punishing offenders.

Orange County Superior Court Judge, James Gray thought the state of California would

save $1 billion a year in stopping prosecuting and imprisoning those non-violent

offenders (Time, 3/13/2009). In 2005, a study by Jeffrey Allen Miron estimated 6.2

billion yearly would be gained if marijuana were taxed at the same rate as tobacco and

alcohol (Prohibitioncosts.org). The economic benefits from legalizing marijuana led, as

reported in the article “Budgetary implications of Marijuana in the United States,” more

than 530 economists including Nobel prize-winning Milton Friedman to call for the

legalization of cannabis (Prohibitioncosts.org). In these harsh economic times, the

United States should be looking for any way to increase their economic strength, and one

way to do this would be to legalize marijuana.

There are many medical benefits of marijuana, adding to the reasons why it

should be legal. The article “Legalization of Marijuana Info” states that no one has ever

died from using marijuana, it is less dangerous than tobacco to one’s health and it can

replace 10-20 % of prescribed drugs now being used (Growing Marijuana Seeds). A

National Institute on Drug Abuse paper (NIDA) reports that THC is the active ingredient

in cannabis and can be useful in treating appetite stimulation, glaucoma, and pain, spastic
muscles from MS, nausea and wasting from AIDS. Some of the health organizations that

support legalizing cannabis: The American Academy of Family Physicians, American

Nurses Association, American Public Health Association, New England Journal of

Medicine, American Cancer Society, and American Medical Association

(Prohibitioncosts.org). There are many other medical professionals that favor legalizing

medical marijuana that would come in a form that could be smoked, and wouldn’t need a

prescription for. Currently, some states do allow medical marijuana to be purchased by

prescription. However, you can still be arrested for using medical marijuana, because

there currently is a federal law banning marijuana use, and can override the state’s law.

These federal laws are not being enforced, but the many benefits of medical marijuana

and the lack of enforcement is another reason why marijuana should be legalized by the

United States government.

There are many reasons that marijuana should be legal. It relieves stress, is not

fatal, only mildly addictive, has major medical advantages, would lesson crime, and

would help the economy. However, there are also those who think that marijuana is a

drug that should remain banned. But, those reasons are weak compared to the benefits of

legalized marijuana. There is a human cost to punishing non-violent marijuana users. As

Steven Dubner said, “While marijuana is, in fact, remarkably free of toxicity, the

consequences of annually arresting 300,000 mostly young people were not” (New York

Times.) It is wrong that someone like Michael Phelps, or the average, casual pot smoker,

can be labeled for life as a drug user and criminal for a substance that should be legal in

the United States.

 Works Cited

“Budgetary implications of mrijuana in the United States.” prohibitioncosts. 4 Mar. 2009

<http://www.prohibitioncosts.org.
Dubner, Stephen J. “On the Legalization — or Not — of Marijuana.” New York Times
30 Oct. 2007. 23 Feb. 2009 <http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/‌2007/
Goodwin, William. Marijuana. San Diego: Lucent Books, Inc, 2002.
“Legalization of marijuana info.” Growing-marijuana-seeds. 4 Mar. 2009
<http://www.growing-marijuana-seeds.com
Messerili, Joe. “Should Marijuanna be Legalized under any Circumstances.” Balanced
Politics. 7 Apr. 2007. 8 Mar. 2009 <http://balancedpolitics.org/‌marijaua
“National Institite on Drug Abuse Research Report Series.” NIDA. National Institute on
Drug Abuse. 8 Mar. 2009
<http://drugabuse.gov/‌researchreports/‌marijuana/‌defalt.html>.
Proquest. “Marijuana Legalization Timeline.” SIRS Researcher. ProQuest. Wilmette Jr.
High library. 5 Feb. 2009 <http://sks.sirs.com>.
“Reefer Madness.” Internet Archive. Ed. Loius Gasnier. 17 Mar. 2009
<http://www.archive.org/‌details/‌reefer_madness1938>.
Stateman, Alison. “Can Marijuana Help Rescue California’s Economy?” Time 13 Mar.
2009. 13 Mar. 2009 <http://www.time.com/‌time/‌nation/‌article/‌